LexisNexis accused of disseminating private information
A court can award actual damages of at least $1,000 for each violation, punitive damages for reckless or willful disregard of the law, and attorney fees and litigation costs.
A division of LexisNexis has been accused in a New Jersey suit of violating Daniel’s Law, enacted to protect the privacy of judges, police officers and other groups.
LexisNexis Risk Data Management operates websites that allow anyone to obtain the name, home address and unlisted home telephone number of persons protected under Daniel’s Law, according to the suit, which was filed in Bergen County Superior Court on Thursday.
LexisNexis allegedly continued to make that information available even after plaintiffs sent the company written requests to stop disclosing it, which represents a violation of Daniel’s Law, the suit claims.
LexisNexis Risk Data Management and its parent company, RELX, were named in a suit by Atlantic Data Privacy Corp. of Jersey City, as an assignee of individuals covered under Daniel’s Law.
More than 100 lawsuits
The suit was one of more than 100 filed in New Jersey courts against dozens of data brokers accused of violations of Daniel’s Law. It includes several police officers who joined as individual plaintiffs, claiming the company failed to keep their addresses and other personal information private.
New Jersey’s Daniel’s Law provides that those violating its provisions may be found liable to the covered person or that person’s assignee for an action in Superior Court.
A court can award actual damages, of at least $1,000 for each violation, punitive damages for reckless or willful disregard of the law, and attorney fees and litigation costs. Congress filed a federal version of Daniel’s Law in 2022.
Daniel’s Law was named after Daniel Anderl, the son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas who was killed by a gunman at the family’s home in 2020. The perpetrator, an attorney who had appeared in Salas’ court, had located the address online.
Most of the defendants in the Daniels’s Law litigation are little-known companies but a few of the targets of Atlantic Data Privacy are household names, such as real estate franchiser RE/MAX, property website Zillow and credit reporting agency TransUnion.
Atlantic Data Privacy is represented in the LexisNexis case by Rajiv Parikh of Genova Burns in Newark, New Jersey, as well as James Lee of Boies Schiller Flexner in Miami, Florida, and John A. Yanchunis of Morgan & Morgan in Tampa, Florida. Parikh did not respond to a request for comment about the LexisNexis case.
Previously, Atlantic Data Privacy said in a statement about the litigation, “We are working to enforce the privacy rights of more than 20,000 members of New Jersey’s law enforcement community who we allege are being put in danger due to data brokers not following Daniel’s Law. Our goal is to ensure these companies comply with the law and change their behavior going forward. What these officers, troopers, and prosecutors hope for is what anyone in their shoes would want for themselves and their families—to feel safe and protected.”
No counsel has entered appearances for LexisNexis. The company did not respond to a request for comment about the suit.
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